By A.L. Lee
August 14, 2023
 

U.S. Energy Department announces $1.2 billion to build two carbon dioxide removal sites in Texas, Louisiana

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced funding to build two direct air capture facilities in Texas and Louisiana to help mitigate the global climate crisis. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI © Bonnie Cash/UPI

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy will announce $1.2 billion in climate funding Friday to build two commercial-scale direct air capture facilities in Texas and Louisiana that will help reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The initiative is being funded through President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is part of the Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program, which aims to build a national network of carbon removal sites to mitigate the escalating climate crisis.

The funding for the project stands to become the world's largest-ever investment in engineered carbon removal, with each new hub capable of clearing more than 250 times more carbon dioxide from the air than the largest capture facility in operation today, the Energy Department said in a statement.

The goal of direct air capture is twofold -- to remove perpetual carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere and extract the everyday emissions from human activities like transportation, industry, manufacturing and waste management, as well as the CO2 produced by wildfires.

"Cutting back on our carbon emissions alone won't reverse the growing impacts of climate change; we also need to remove the CO2 that we've already put in the atmosphere -- which nearly every climate model makes clear is essential to achieving a net-zero global economy by 2050," said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

In total, the new facilities are expected to rid the air of more than 2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions each year -- which is equal to the amount of contaminants put out by 445,00 gas-powered vehicles, the agency said.

Biden's net-zero emissions plan, however, is far more ambitious -- calling for between 400 million and 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere and captured from emissions sources annually by 2050.

The rising hubs in Calcasieu Parish, La., and Kleberg County, Texas, will kickstart the effort while fostering labor and community growth as the administration seeks increased solutions to extreme weather events that continue to rack the country each year due to climate change.

"Their development will help inform future public and private sector investments and jumpstart a new industry critical to addressing the climate crisis on a global scale," the Energy Department stated. "DOE is dedicated to ensuring that the selected Regional DAC Hubs projects deliver community benefits and avoid harm in those communities while also advancing the development of carbon capture, transport, and storage systems."

The direct air capture process separates carbon from oxygen, and thus reduces CO2 in the atmosphere. The trapped CO2 can then be safely stored underground or converted into useful carbon products like concrete, which would prevent its release back into the air.

Carbon dioxide removal technology is critical to curtailing climate change and could help the United States become more competitive in the global economy of the future, the agency said.

The construction and ongoing maintenance of the facilities will create nearly 5,000 new jobs in Texas and Louisiana, the agency said.

A recent report from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change blamed carbon dioxide pollution for warming the planet and its oceans continuously for more than half a century while damaging public health and ecosystems worldwide.